Fieldwork and Language Documentation

Fieldwork Forum (FForum)

When? Spring 2026: Every other Wednesday, 3:10PM-4:00PM (alternating with LRWG)

Where? Hybrid Format (in-person in Dwinelle 1303 and via Zoom; email organizers for passcode)

What? We are a working group dedicated to the critical examination of methodologies in language documentation, description, and revitalization, as well as to...

Language Revitalization Working Group

The Language Revitalization Working Group offers a space for folks involved with (or interested in) language revitalization to gather, share, present, discuss, and improve their language revitalization efforts. LRWG is open to all - grad and undergrad students, faculty, staff, and community members; you don't need to be affiliated with UC Berkeley to attend.

In Spring 2026, we will meet every other Wednesday at 3(:10)pm (PST) in a hybrid format: if you're on campus you can join us in-person in Dwinelle 1303, and if you're not, you can join via...

CLA updates

March 5, 2026

Here's the latest from the California Language Archive:

We accessioned digital copies of Narcisa Higuera Rosemyre's seven wax cylinder recordings of Tongva and Serrano (Uto-Aztecan; California) songs made by George Henry Taylor (see catalog items 24-3213 through 24-3219). We accessioned a sneak peek (two items) of the new collection Materiales del Proyecto del Idioma Mixteco de San Juan Piñas (Oto-Manguean; Mexico), which will be added to in the coming months. This is a collaboration among maestras Claudia Juárez Chávez, Basilisa Pérez Morelos, and Cirila Pérez Morelos, and linguists Gabriela Caballero (PhD 2008), Claudia Duarte Borquez, Tylar Kameda, Maxine Van Doren, and Michelle Yuan. We accessioned the Knud Lambrecht Papers (PhD 1986), consisting largely of draft and published articles and associated notes and correspondence, with an empirical focus on topics in English and French semantics and pragmatics. The CLA acquired the materials from an estate sale at Prof. Lambrecht's home in 2019. Becky Everson accessioned the new collection Shekgalagadi of the Tjhauba Field Materials (Bantu; Botswana), consisting of more than 90 audiovisual recordings of elicitation sessions, picture identification tasks, procedural texts, and ethnographic and sociolinguistic interviews. We accessioned three new series to the Kenneth W. Whistler Papers on Indigenous Languages (PhD 1980) dedicated to his projects on Proto-Yokuts (007, with Victor Golla), Nuu-chah-nulth (008; Wakashan, British Columbia), and Alsea (009; Penutian, Oregon). Dr. Whistler donated the materials to the CLA in 2025.

Hannah Sande

Assistant Professor of Linguistics

PhD, UC Berkeley

Phonology, morphology, and their interface; prosody; language documentation and description; African languages, especially languages of Côte d'Ivoire

Amy Rose Deal

Associate Professor of Linguistics

PhD, UMass Amherst

Syntax, semantics, fieldwork, Nez Perce

QP fest 2018!

November 22, 2018

QP Fest will be held on Monday, November 26, in Dwinelle 370, from 3-5pm. (Note the rescheduled date!)

The schedule is as follows:

Introduction (3:10-3:15) Tessa Scott: "Conjoint/disjoint in Ndengeleko: A head movement alternation" (3:15-3:35) Karee Garvin: "Positional effects on timing and coordination of segments within the syllable" (3:35-3:55) Yevgeniy Melguy: "Talker ethnicity and listener expectation in the perception of foreign-accented speech" (3:55-4:15) Mini-break (4:15-4:20) Noah Hermalin: "Ambiguity and efficiency trade-offs in Sumerian cuneiform" (4:20-4:40) Myriam Lapierre: "A phonological analysis of Panãra" (4:40-5:00)

CLA updates

September 11, 2025

Here's the latest from the California Language Archive:

Emily Drummond (PhD 2023) and Margaret Asperheim have accessioned more than 140 items into the collection Nukuoro Field Materials (see items 2019-24.188 forward). Dating from 2022, 2023, and 2024, the materials in these items include, among other things, recordings of stories, interviews, and elicitation sessions created both on Zoom and again in person in Micronesia.

Group in American Indian Languages (GAIL)

The Group in American Indian Languages (GAIL) meets periodically in order to bring together individuals interested in Indigenous languages of the Americas for dinner and a presentation. News about events can be found below, and a list of other past talks can be found here.

If you would like to receive periodic emails updating you about our activities, join the Friends of the Survey email list by writing to scoil-ling@berkeley.edu.

Upcoming events:...

Zachary O'Hagan

Manager, California Language Archive

PhD, UC Berkeley

Caquinte (Arawakan), Chamikuro (Arawakan), Omagua (Tupí-Guaraní), Taushiro (isolate), and Omurano (isolate); language documentation, description, history and contact in Amazonia; historical linguistics; morphosyntax; semantics; information structure

Graduate Field Methods Course History

This page summarizes the history of graduate instruction in linguistic field methods at Berkeley, with information about academic year, language(s), consultant(s), and instructor(s), when known. Links in the Language column are to archival collections in the California Language Archive (CLA). The information has been reconstructed from archival course catalogs, which occasionally do not reflect the ultimate instructor of record, and in consultation with Linguistics faculty, graduate students, alumni, and records in the CLA. We will...